Leading To Death
by CrimsonSali
Summary: <html><head></head>One year has passed since Orihime had tried to bring Ra-Mu to earth and, besides a few Viruses, everything was the same again for Subaru and War-Rock. But suddenly, Mu encounters earth again, and with it a new foe, stronger than Ra-Mu had ever been.</html>
1. Encounter

Hiya guys, it's TheCrimsonSkyline online with her first MegaMan a.k.a. Rockman Fic ever! Like I wrote in my profile, I'm not a native speaker but an 15-year-old Austrian girl, so if there are any mistakes in my way of writing or words that don't fit or mean something totally different, please let me know!

I base this Fic on the ANIME of MegaMan Starforce, mostly on Ryuusei no Rockman Tribe, the second season. So I'll be using the Japanese names and descriptions as well. I'll list everything that's different from the games beneath, so be sure to read it through if you haven't watched the Anime and don't want to be confused. Also, my first intention was to hand this in to my English teacher, so the first chapter contains descriptions and explanation of things that everyone reading this here on surely knows. Sorry for that, just skip the parts you already know. I'd recommend reading them though, as the Anime is WAY different from the games, like I said before.

Note: In Japan, the Last Name is written before the First Name, so I'll also do that here. I'll use the Japanese –san, -kun, -chan etc. as well, but they should be common.

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><p>Hoshikawa Subaru = Geo Stelar<p>

Hibiki Misora = Sonia Strumm

Bly = Solo

War-Rock = Omega-Xis

Denpa-Henkan = Wave Change

Rockman = Megaman

Denpa: Jap. 'Wave', refers to electronic waves

FM Planet: A planet just like Earth, only being inhabited by Denpa beings called FM Life-Forms, who are a pugnacious and brutal nation that have eliminated the AM Planet long with most of its inhabitants.

AM Planet: A planet just like FM Planet, only being inhabited by Denpa beings called AM Life-Forms, who are a nice and calm nation that were eliminated by the FM Life-Forms. The only AM Life-Form left alive is War-Rock. The three wise men of AM-Planet, that died shortly after War-Rock had realized he was an AM Life-Form and not from FM Planet, gave their lives by changing into almighty Battle Cards then given to Subaru in order to protect earth.

The country of Mu: A country that exists in a different dimension than earth and was wiped out by Ra-Mu, their former guardian, which they sealed away together with their strongest warrior shortly after that by giving most of their lives.

OOPArts: Short for Out Of Place Artifact, an OOPArt is an ancient relict of great Power that was found in a place where it seemed, like its name says, out of place.

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><p>"Battle Card! Predation! Gatling Gun!"<p>

"Battle Card! Predation! Wide Shot!"

"Haah!"

The three Denpa-Humans clashed together, or rather, their attacks did. A huge explosion occurred in the middle of the yellow-orange Wave Road only Denpa-Beings could reach and use, causing all the people in the city underneath it to look up. Look up to a fight they wouldn't even know was there without the big, dark cloud of smoke that hovered around over their heads, and the noise that happened to accompany it.

Hoshikawa Subaru cursed at the sight of the cloud. He was one of the three Denpa-Humans up there in the crucial area that had launched the attacks which had caused the explosion, but he still wished that the cloud hadn't appeared. That would blind them, and be good for the enemy. While he was in Denpa-Henkan with War-Rock, an alien from the AM Planet, his body was changed to a state called Denpa State, made him a Denpa-Human and gave him the power to change into his alternate identity, Rockman. As Rockman, he had the power to fight Denpa Viruses directly, use the Wave Roads all over the planet and communicate with Wizards, Denpa beings that were a great help for the whole humanity. Also, if War-Rock 'predated' a Battle Card that was normally just put into a little device called a Transer and that could fight Denpa Viruses, Rockman could use it in battle and so be able to fight them more effectively. Naturally, Rockman was still able to use the human ways as much as he wanted to, if he just changed his body's state, but to avoid nuisances, he did that only when he absolutely had to. The last advantage of Denpa-Henkan was that their combined strength merged together and even duplicated after that, so that Rockman was able to heave a whole train without showing any effort, if he had wanted to.

Subaru sped up on the yellow-orange Wave Road he was standing on and could dash on with just one movement, going in the direction of the smoke cloud. A few Wave Roads away, he could see Hibiki Misora, in her identity as Harp Note, just landing on the ground made of Denpa and dashing away as well. They exchanged a short look and showed each other the Battle Cards they'd use next, in order to have a chance of teamwork up ahead. Then Rockman looked up into the sky, searching through it with his eyes.

"What are you thinking, not paying attention to your foe anymore," a harsh voice led his look directly upwards from his current position. The brown-haired grinned a little as he saw Bly coming down to him rather fast, his big badass sword in his right hand, where it always was.

Bly was a bit of an exception if compared with other Denpa-Humans – as a descendant of the ancient country of Mu, which existed in a parallel dimension to the common known world, he didn't need to fuse with a Denpa-Being in order to change into Denpa-Henkan and also didn't need to predate Battle Cards to launch various strong attacks. He still needed them, but only thinking of them was quite enough to activate them for him, so it looked like he didn't use one at all for someone that didn't know about Battle Cards. Despite that, his power level wasn't below those of Rockman and Harp Note; it was quite the opposite. During their first encounter, Bly had wiped the floor with them, practically and literally spoken. Believing that he wanted to cause destruction, Rockman continued fighting Bly on several occasions, mostly while trying to get the OOPArts that Bly had been trying to hinder from getting together. However, as the person Rockman was fighting for turned out to be the real one wanting destruction by resurrecting the greatest and most uncontrollable warrior of Mu, Ra-Mu, him and Bly had joined forces at last and drove Ra-Mu back into Mu as it was close to enter earth. Since then, they hadn't seen each other again, as there had been no other choice for Bly but to go back to Mu together with Ra-Mu, to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. Even if both sides had never spoken it out aloud, shortly before their separation they had made the promise to see each other again. They'd just needed looks for that appointment.

The reason for their reunion after one year could have been on a better note though. Bly had successfully destroyed all the OOPArts, absorbed their power and sealed Ra-Mu away again, but seeing as he was, after all, a human being, he wasn't able to do each- and everything. Ra-Mu had been nearly as big as a god for Mu – sealing him had, even with the power of the OOPArts, which contained a power as big as that of Ra-Mu, drained Bly's powers to the minimum amount he had needed to stay alive, which was the cause for him to not notice that with this new seal, he had made a thin crack into another one.

If truth be told, it wasn't his fault completely. The crack had been there before and nothing had happened, but the extension of the one micrometer Bly had caused seemed to have been enough to let the power of the beast inside dwell out. Rockman was just glad that it only broke out completely after Bly's power had been nearly fully resurrected, as he didn't want to think about a scenario where he and Harp Note had to face that thing alone, without Bly telling them what it was and what powers it possessed.

"Especially this foe," Bly continued as he took his space next to Rockman and kept up with him using the Wave Road as well, even though he was able to fly. "Tomorrow at this time you want to be still alive, yes?"

"Of course", Rockman replied, knowing Bly's offending tone was just the way the citizen of Mu was talking regularly. He had been sealed together with Ra-Mu for so long he himself only referred to the time they'd been sealed as 'long ago', so nobody cared if he was expressing some things a little bit oddly.

"You know, Bly, I wouldn't have thought that you'd talk this much."

Bly seemed like he actually had to think that line through a few times before getting slightly angry about it. But much more than the bit of anger, the surprise was clearly noticeable in his face.

"Why are you telling me that all of a sudden?" the older boy replied then, looking straight forward, as the dark cloud came nearer and nearer – or rather, they came closer.

Next to him, Rockman shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. Maybe I wanted you to know, just in case."

That made both of them grin out of gallows humor, as both of them knew, what they were just going to encounter.

"You're some sort of a pessimist, eh, Rock?"

"Rock?" repeated Rockman phrased as a question, thinking if he had just overheard the 'man' part or if Bly had really not spoken it. "You didn't forget I'm Rockman, right?"

"Nah, but you need a shorter name. Harp Note there is Sora for me."

_Hibiki Misora, Misora, Sora,_ Rockman tried in his thoughts and after a few moments had to admit that the name fit Harp Note. He was on the verge of deciding to call her that way too, but then held himself back. Bly may've been able to take this whole situation a bit lighter, because he possessed more power, but he himself had to focus completely if he didn't want to get killed.

_Focus on the big thing ahead of you, focus on the big thing ahead of you,_ he chanted in his mind, clapping the palms of his hands flat against his cheeks in order to be fully awake and there. He repeated that action a few times then looked up again, just to see that the smoke cloud was a few seconds up ahead of them.

"Well, Rock?" Bly whispered, all of his former calmness gone and instead replaced with a nearly deadly seriousness. It was just a slight movement, but the instant he had raised his voice Rockman noticed that the fingers of the citizen of Mu had tightened his grip around the sword's handle. "Ready to face the real evil behind Ra-Mu? Ready to face Amun-Re-Mu?"


	2. Past

_Amun-Re-Mu. The real evil behind Ra-Mu. _

_If you believe in the legend, there was only one warrior fighting for Mu. But the truth that only a minority of the people of Mu has known is that there was another one. A guardian that held himself hidden behind Ra-Mu most of the time and was only meant to take action if there was a real crisis. And the crisis came._

_It had been, as if another god had risen, a god mightier than anything Mu had seen before. __Natural catastrophes took place, known by the people as the will of god, even though they did not know what they'd done to receive this kind of punishment. Mu was a country dependent of god, that couldn't have existed if its people didn't believe in one and only one god. All would've been good, if it hadn't changed so suddenly. A group of people rebelled against god, didn't believe in his judgments and signs and so drew his wrath upon them._

_The god of Mu existed. And the behavior of these people outraged him._

_Mu was shortly before its end. So the elders decided to awaken Amun-Re-Mu. It was a dangerous decision they made, as they knew how dangerous this guardian was if they took off the limiters they'd placed on him. Nevertheless they had no other choice if they didn't want to take responsibility for Mu's end. So Amun-Re-Mu was released into the world for the first time._

_It was a crisis almost bigger than god's punishments. Amun-Re-Mu discovered the group of people that were non-believers with its enormous powers no one had a trace of understanding, and instead of letting the elders punish them and try to get them back on the path of god, it destroyed them and left nothing of them., not one trace. But after that, it didn't stop. Amun-Re-Mu was stronger than anything or anyone else in the country of Mu and as it had realized that fact, it seemed like it made use of its dangerous powers in order to take over the country it had once sworn to protect. How a mere guardian could do such a thing, was what most of Mu's people thought. But the same minority that had known of Amun-Re-Mu's existence before knew better. Both of the guardians had a soul, a free will, they could think for themselves and even get in contact with human souls in order to speak to them. Amun-Re-Mu, for such a long time closed away from any contact besides Ra-Mu, had almost lost this part of its existence. Not even through Ra-Mu the elders could speak with it and quickly they had to make another decision that ended up in sacrificing themselves. They wanted to seal away Amun-Re-Mu. But in order to accomplish that, they had to seal both of the guardians because no matter that they were separated beings, they still were somehow connected to each other. But Ra-Mu didn't know of that fact. The second it was attacked in order to seal it, it thought the humans had turned against it and used force to struggle against their decision. Its human part tried to connect with them and get an answer to why they did what they were doing, but all of Mu's people closed their minds to Ra-Mu's mental touch. It was desperate, being attacked by its former allies, the humans it had considered as friends. So it decided to let it happen, as it knew that there had to be a reason and didn't want to hurt his Mu friends. Even so, no living being wants to suffer more than it has to, so it made a difficult decision – it separated his human part and his beast part. That was when Bly started to be a human of Mu._

_But Bly's existence opened a new threat to Mu, the threat of an unleashed Ra-Mu that didn't have his human side to control him anymore and that could run rampage every free moment it had. So it was only more urgent to seal him. And in order to make sure that Ra-Mu was contained even after their death, they sealed Bly together with him and made sure he awakened the time a threat that would lead to Ra-Mu's awakening appeared. Amun-Re-Mu, as a different being, did know very well why it was attacked and saw no reason to separate its human mind and beast side. As well as it didn't understand why Ra-Mu refused to attack the humans that threatened it. So in order to seal it, almost every human of Mu had to sacrifice and transfer their power to one that could lead the sealing of being that was almost a god. That one was Bly. As a former part of Ra-Mu he possessed a great amount of power and together with the power of Mu's people he accomplished to seal away Amun-Re-Mu. But he wasn't a being close to god anymore. He was a complete human. And a human made mistakes._

_Even though he tried the best he could, because of the fact he had to seal himself and the beast body of Ra-Mu after that as well, Amun-Re-Mu's seal wasn't as great as everyone had hoped it to be – it had a simple crack. But even Amun-Re-Mu wasn't a complete god and the crack so little that most of the people saw it as no threat. With Bly to protect the OOPArts if someone attempted to bring them together in order to awaken Ra-Mu, there wouldn't be a reason the seal was offended. They just wanted to live without continuously worrying about their former guardians._

_But with the resurrecting of Ra-Mu that was caused many years after in the year 220X, the crack on Amun-Re-Mu's seal was widened for the tiniest bit. And as Amun-Re-Mu still had his human side that refused to let it run rampage on innocent humans of earth, it decided to vanquish the evil in this new world since Mu was no longer inhabited. And as it had both his human side and his beast side, it wasn't a beast that ran rampage without thinking about it once or twice. It knew exactly what it had to do._

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><p>I know, short chapter. But I can't cut anywhere else, so either this or a chapter that's way too long.<p>

I tried to make the story up without messing around with the original plot, so I hope I did a good job. Also I tried to give Bly a reason for being so strong he was chosen to be sealed with Ra-Mu in such a young age. So I made him the human part of Ra-Mu. Kinda strange, but it works, doesn't it? At least it's not completely impossible.

Hope you liked the story until now – new chapters will be coming =D


	3. Loss

"Where is it?" Rockman exclaimed while him and Bly looked around inside the cloud. They couldn't make out anything at all; they nearly saw their own silhouettes that prevented them from attacking each other.

"I don't know," Bly replied grimly. "But it has to be somewhere. Even Amun-Re-Mu can't just vanish into thin air; if it could then I could've never sealed it back then!"

A noise from above let them both look up and point either their Rock Buster or sword into the air.

"Machine Gun String!" an all too familiar voice to Rockman shouted from above, followed by two iron strings that burst into his and Bly's direction.

_Shit, I am so used to not having to predate it that I didn't think of preparing a Battle Card! _Rockman cursed , the Predation wasn't necessary anymore, since the Transer had been changed into the Star Carrier and now the Hunter VG, which both allowed them to use their Battle Cards without Predation by just exclaiming their names. But the second they'd tried to do so in the battle against Amun-Re-Mu nothing had happened and Bly had explained shortly after it that the Mu civilization had had a far greater technology than mankind now, so the Hunter VG might have problems to function the right way around Amun-Re-Mu.

For a second Rockman searched for a Barrier200 Battle Card, ready to let War-Rock predate it, but then Bly put his arm up before him and made one step forward. The next moment a barrier rose up before the two of them and reflected the iron strings that clashed against it. Rockman sighed, now remembering again that Bly could make a barrier without as much trouble as him. From what he had experienced, it was enough for Bly to just think of a barrier for it to be there. It had given the young boy more than enough trouble to be surprised that he'd ever forgotten about that ability, even if it had been a year since he last had to deal with it.

"Harp Note!" Rockman exclaimed as the girl fell down out of the black smoke above them, ready to make the next attack. She stopped as she could see the two of them as well and landed right next to Rockman.

"Oh, sorry guys. I thought it be best to attack anything I could make out in this cloud."

"Yeah, you still could've hurt us," War-Rock replied, addressing his fellow Denpa life form Harp. Rockman could fairly see both of the females, as well as Harp Note's face for the tiniest bit, and even that he could only because she stood right next to him. The facial expressions of Bly, who wasn't as close as her – the difference was about half a footstep – he couldn't see.

"You would've done the same," Harp argued from the handle of Harp Note's guitar, shutting her male companion up about it. Rockman too didn't continue the arguing, as he didn't want to start a fight in the middle of a battle this important where they could get killed every second they didn't pay attention. If he looked at it this way Harp Note was on the right side, not him, so he wouldn't try and stand a lost ground.

"This is going to be a problem," Bly raised his voice next to the two, causing them both to look in his direction. "If we can't make sure who it is that's standing next to us, how are we going to fight?"

"Oh that'll be easy. We can't mistake something as big as that thing for one of us," Harp Note said, happy that she knew something Bly didn't. Rockman sighed, thinking that Bly surely enough had a reason to speak of that point without the one Harp Note had just claimed to have solved. It sure as hell wasn't something as trivial as she thought it had been, but he had to admit that he himself didn't see another one as well so he couldn't come up with it. He didn't want to draw Harp Note's attention on that fact too and if there really was another reason, Bly could mention it himself, without Rockman getting into trouble with the girl.

A few seconds of silence occurred then Bly's answer sounded a bit quiet and distant. "Yeah. You're right."

At first Rockman thought of it as an incomplete answer and had just attempted to press Bly on that fact, but before he could even speak a word a loud scream nearly set him off his feet by its sound waves. Clearly enough his partners had felt it the same way as they looked into the same direction as him now, Harp Note with a Battle Card in her hand and Bly with his sword held in both hands right before him. Rockman quickly got out a Battle Card himself and threw it into the air above him only a few moments after Harp Note did hers.

"Battle Card! Predation! Air Spread!"

"Battle Card! Predation! Power Bo-"

"Not that one!" Bly barged in and caught the Battle Card in mid-air shortly before War-Rock could predate it.

"Oi!" War-Rock complained in next to no time in his usual aggressive tone. "Don't interfere! You were the one asking us for help, remember?"

"That's not it. Launching a bomb here would only increase the amount of smoke and I for my part think that there's quite enough of it around," Bly explained while handing back Rockman the Battle Card, who took it with a short nod of his head. On his arm, War-Rock made a short grunting noise that wasn't noticed by anyone except his partner in Denpa-Henkan, who decided it be best to just leave it be.

"Understood. I'll use another one." He quickly put Power Bomb back into his folder and snapped another one out. But instead of predating it he just held it in his hand, as he knew that every weapon was only materialized for an individual time span per Battle Card after they'd been predated, so he wanted to wait as long as he could, especially because he'd drawn out Ryuuenzan, a Sword Battle Card. When using Bomb Battle Cards like Power Bomb it didn't matter how long they were present, as nobody held a bomb in their hand longer than the few seconds they needed to aim at their foe.

The next moment, the edge of Bly's hand hit him at the back of his head.

"Ow! What the hell wuzzat for?

"You're getting side-tracked again," the white-haired boy reasoned for his actions shortly before stepping away next to Rockman. The brown-haired left grumbled for a short while, before he could bring himself to follow Bly.

Or rather, try to follow him. Before he could even finish his first step towards the white-haired, a tremendous wave of power clashed against him and made him unable to move forward even one more inch. Rockman froze on spot, not capable of getting his body to do what he commanded it to do and soon fell on his knees and right hand in order not to lie down on the ground completely. His legs wouldn't carry his weight anymore, his whole body felt numb, just as if someone or something sucked out his energy.

_Wh- what's this feeling…? I… My body…won't move…_

"Aah! What's with this enormous power? M-My energy…!" the high pitched voice of Harp Note somehow found its way through the fog into his ears, followed by most likely Harp Note falling onto her knees, letting him figure that he wasn't the only one in trouble right now. Bly seemed to be the only one left standing straight, even though Rockman could've sworn hearing the sound of a sword getting rammed into the ground this very moment.

"It must be an attack! We have to get away from here!" War-Rock shouted back from Rockman's arm, still trying to drag their body on its feet again by stretching the arm he was on into mid-air, causing pain in Subaru's part of the body. He would've complained, if he hadn't had barely enough strength to stay off the ground himself.

"Wrong, it's not an attack!"

"Huh?"

Before anyone could do more than shouting the word as an expression of surprise due to Bly's statement, another wave of power got to them, this time taking the wind with it. They all had to strengthen their bodies as best as they could to not get blown away by its pressure, but fortunately the wind was strong enough to have blown away all of the smoke in less than a few seconds, so that all of them could see clearly again.

Both Rockman and Harp Note looked at Bly immediately, who was clinging onto his sword in order to remain on his feet.

"What do you –" Rockman started to say, but then swallowed the rest of the sentence as he noticed what was in front of Bly. And it was clear to him that other people would be laughing if they saw him only now, because he was shocked of something that would've relieved him in every other situation. There was nothing. Nothing at all. The great ancient guardian Amun-Re-Mu had literally vanished into thin air.

"H-How…?" he heard Harp Note stammer a bit of a distance next to him, kneeling on the ground and looking at the place where their enemy had been a few seconds ago too. "How is this possible? How can something like that just disappear? Just HOW?"

Her voice was getting louder while she talked and let her scream the last word that was in Rockman's mind right that moment as well. He would've answered her so gladly, if he had known the reason himself, as her voice sounded desperate, just like he himself felt.

"Calm down, Misora," Harp tried to soothe her partner in Denpa-Henkan, with no effect at all. Harp Note didn't make any other exclamations or hasty movements, but she was forming fists out of her hands and looking down, seeming to be anything else than calm. And her male friend knew exactly why, as he was feeling the same way.

Them letting Amun-Re-Mu get away was not just a setback; it was something near to a catastrophe. It hadn't been a problem with their former battles. All of their opponents had wanted to face off against them in person, so the danger of them disappearing and causing destruction somewhere unprotected hadn't existed. With Amun-Re-Mu it was different. From what Bly had told them, the former god's goal was revenge on _humanity_. And humans were all over the planet. If Amun-Re-Mu didn't want to face them in battle, it could just wander off to the opposite side of earth and keep repeating that action as long as they would be following it. And just that scenario, the worst possible, had happened.


	4. Walking Home

"Damn it," Rockman cursed, banging his fist against the ground. Not only that their enemy was gone, until something told them where it had gone to they were completely at a blank.

"It makes no sense," Bly said a few meters in front of him, just loud enough for him to hear. "I said it before, if it could vanish whenever it wanted to, it would've never let me seal it. It just makes no sense."

"To hell with sense!" Harp Note yelled, drawing the looks of both her companions on her. The girl made an attempt to stand up again as he spoke her next sentences. "The only thing I know is that we failed. We couldn't prevent this giant monster from running wild!"

"You're no gods, Misora. You can't do everything," Harp tried again to cheer the blonde girl up, still making no progress in it, as she didn't get an answer from the one she addressed. Rockman answered in Harp Note's stead, both now standing with their feet on the ground.

"We still didn't manage to do what we could've done. It comes down to the same," the boy said with a more than just a tad of bitterness in his voice. "Fact is, Amun-Re-Mu is gone and we have no trace of it."

Silence took place after Rockman had stated what all three of them had already known but refused to speak out aloud until then. After a few moments they all spent quiet, Bly drew his sword out of the Wave Road and walked over to them. No one of them needed words, as they all nodded in unison and then undid their Denpa Henkan all at the same time.

It didn't take much more than a few seconds for them to appear at the back of a building, beneath the Wave Road they could no longer stand on as humans. When their Star Carriers appeared, Subaru and Misora caught theirs and then held them in front of their chests; Bly just put his in his pocket.

"So…what now?" War-Rock asked from inside the device while the three humans started walking toward the street. Being in a mood that couldn't be called anything better than terrible, Subaru snapped back, "Oh, thanks for bringing it up, none of us was thinking about that until you asked!"

"I know that, idiot," the AM Life-Form replied. "But nobody would've said it, so I figured it to be best to just do it. Being depressed is useless."

"Easier said than done," Subaru gave back, but had to admit War-Rock did have a point, even if he hated to. Moaning about their own failure and ending up in self-pity would neither do them nor the rest of the world any good. When he looked into both Misora's and Bly's faces, he knew they were thinking the same at the moment.

Without anyone responding to Subaru's last statement, they walked down the street they were approaching at. A few times, they even had to apologize to people they bumped into because they didn't pay enough attention on where they were walking. It was late afternoon, just the time for people to go out having a fun time with their friends, so, many people were outside right that time.

"I'd say we rest for now and restore our powers," Bly suddenly said when they approached a red traffic light, drawing both the looks of Subaru and Misora onto him. "Whenever we have to fight Amun-Re-Mu again, attempting to do it without our full power could be considered as suicidal."

"He's right," Harp stated from the inside of Misora's Star Carrier, obviously uncomfortable with her human partners state. "You have a concert in another city tomorrow as well, Misora! You have to get enough sleep to be at full energy."

First it seemed like Misora wouldn't respond, but shortly before Harp could say something else, the pink-haired girl smiled, to the surprise of both her male partners, and said with a voice that was completely different from before, "You're right, Harp. I can't let my fans down, now, can I?"

Astonished of her sudden change, Subaru nearly forgot to start walking the moment the traffic light changed its color to let them continue their way, so Bly had to pat him on the back before he got the right speed. Misora was simply amazing in his eyes – just a few minutes before, she seemed even more depressed than he himself had, and while he still did, she looked like she was totally fine by now to not make Harp worry anymore. Her voice sounded almost like normal again as she was arguing with Harp about the order of the songs she'd perform the next day.

Watching her, Subaru had no other choice but to smile a little as well. Just as War-Rock had said, being depressed wouldn't get them anywhere near a solution. It was best to head home to rest and do better next time. In fact, it was the only thing they could do right now that wasn't completely senseless.

"Well guys, I'll be off!" Misora suddenly said and turned around to them, making him and Bly stop to don't run into her. "Taking the airplane is cancelled, Harp just found out I missed my plane…so I'll be heading there by Wave Road! If anything happens and you don't call me, I'll be mad, so be sure to contact me!"

"I will," Subaru promised, making her smile before she turned away and ran into a little side street. Not much later, a faint pink light lit up the two walls only so much that you didn't notice it if you didn't focus on it.

"So, I think we should be heading home too, right?" Subaru said to War-Rock as he turned to his Star Carrier, who nodded right away.

"We'll need every little bit of energy we can get."

"Speaking of which," the brown-haired boy then noticed and turned towards Bly, who still looked into the direction Misora had run off, "where do you sleep tonight, Bly? If you don't have a place, you can come with –"

"I have a flat, don't worry," Bly interrupted him, before he searched through his pockets shortly and took out a small iron key to show him he was stating the truth. Subaru, who hadn't quite expected that kind of answer, watched him in surprise, eyeing the key as if he wanted to check if it was real.

"B-but how did you get one?" he asked when he found words again and Bly was just putting the little object back into his pocket again, don't seeming to understand why Subaru was as surprised as he just showed he was. "Sure, you're not a little kid inside, but your body is that of a child. And I'm pretty sure that if you had an identification that proved you to be full age in Mu, it wouldn't be accepted here!"

Bly didn't reply first, then seemed to recall something in his head and obviously tried to hide a grin.

"There are many foolish people which care for money alone out there, I learned that when I got it. Just had to show them a bit of the gold I brought here from Mu and the landlord didn't just let me have the flat, he even sold it to me instead of just renting it. You can laugh, if you want to, but it's the truth."

And laughing was just what Subaru did. During a few seconds he didn't do anything but blinking about five times, then he fell into laughing just as Bly had suggested to him. After a bit of time had passed again, that one showed a full grin this time. Even War-Rock joined them, his voice sounding a bit electronically out of the Star Carrier.

It took about half of a minute for Subaru to calm down again and stand straight next to Bly, who still smiled lightly but didn't show it too much.

"I told you before," the brown-haired said, still having to hold back a bit of sniggering, "but I really didn't think that you were like this. I couldn't have imagined, more likely."

"So, how did you imagine me to be? A proper example of someone always being serious, never smiling, always being harsh, short on words and so on? Who'd wanna live like that?" Bly replied, counting each characteristic trait he mentioned with one of his fingers. He then turned to Subaru with an expectant look, making that one feel uncomfortable about what he had said and begin to stutter.

"N-no, not at all, I mean, yeah, probably, but that doesn't mean you have to be like that, obviously!" he tried to maneuver himself out, while War-Rock sighed inside the Star Carrier and shook his head. "It's just, all I saw from you was your serious self while you were attacking me, and that short time in Mu before you fought Empty. I couldn't judge you from any other situation, so of course I imagined you like that. Sorry."

"Ah, whatever. It doesn't matter," Bly assured him after he had ended. "But we really should be heading off now. You're mother will worry about you, no?"

Subaru jerked out of whatever he had just thought as Bly's words made him remember how late it was. He had told his mother he'd be back at half past six the latest, but as the fight had lasted way longer than he had imagined it, he was sure it was long past that appointed time. He looked at his Star Carrier to make sure.

"Oh crap!" he shouted as he saw it on the screen in big numbers. "It's already twenty minutes past seven! I have to hurry and call her!"

"What makes me wonder even more is the fact she didn't call herself," War-Rock mentioned, making Subaru think about it as well for a short time before Bly started to explain it.

"I suppose it's the same with the phone function, just like predating. I wouldn't be surprised if it was jammed because we were so near to Amun-Re-Mu."

"Makes sense," Subaru agreed, while he hastily dialed his mother's number instead of searching for it in his list of numbers, to be faster.

Just as he wanted to put in the last cipher, he was interrupted. Someone had bumped into him from behind, caused him to lose his balance and fall over. Helplessly trying to stabilize himself again by waving his arms around in circles, he would've fallen onto the ground, if Bly hadn't been standing next to him and caught him right before the impact. Subaru sighed the moment he noticed he wasn't falling anymore.

"Thanks," he said thankfully, while Bly lifted him up again. "But who was –"

"I'm sorry!"

His sentence being interrupted, Subaru turned around to see who it was that bumped into him, and as he saw, he was even more surprised than at the second it had happened. It was a little girl, about six or seven years old, who was sitting on her knees barely a meter away from where they had collided. She was hastily collecting some cards she obviously dropped from the impact, always looking back up at Subaru after she had picked one up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't watch where I was going!" she said then, sounding embarrassed and was almost shouting in terms of the volume she was using, her dark blue hair swaying around because of her quick movements. "It was my fault, excuse me!"

"Don't worry about it," Subaru said to her while he shook his head and kneeled down to her, starting to pick up the last few of the cards she had dropped. "I shouldn't have stood right in the middle of the pavement too. Here you go." Her eyes widened a bit as he held about six of the cards toward here and she hesitantly nodded when she took them.

"T-Thank you," she mumbled shortly before she jumped up and walked past both of them quickly.

"Take care," Subaru called after her while he got up again, not sure whether she heard it or not, because she didn't turn around again.

"Isn't it odd for a little girl like that to be out at this time?" Bly asked a few seconds after the girl had taken a turn to the left at the end of the street, making Subaru look at him instantly. He looked at the white-haired boy for a couple of seconds and then turned into the direction the girl had run off to again.

"I'm sure it's okay, maybe she lives around here."

"Yeah, you're right," Bly agreed shortly after.

* * *

><p>I swear, I've been reading so much RockmanEXE lately that I always want to write PET instead of Star Carrier. It drove me crazy when I read it through again, because I had to change it so many times.<p>

Always read through a text before posting it, guys. It's the best advice ever.

The little kid having dark blue hair is nothing too unusual in the Rockman universe. Just remember Tsukasa (Pat) and his green hair. Or, more obvious, Misora's pink hair. White hair like Bly's isn't actually common as well, though we don't know how hair colors were in Mu. So blue hair isn't really that odd, right?

About Subaru promising to be home at half past six – he's still eleven years old, damn it! It makes sense he's allowed to go to Vista Point that late at night in the games, because the village he's living in isn't that big, go figure. But if I were his mother in the Anime, I wouldn't let my son go out into a city that big so late at night like it is shown. Honestly.


	5. Enemy

Hey Ho! It's been a long time since I last uploaded something... and so I want to thank both of the people that wrote a review for me, Anon and Sapphiet. I'm glad you like what I'm producing here.

It's a kind of lonegr chapter, but that's just because I want to make up for the time I didn't upload xD

Also, the oh-so-mysterious girl from the last chapter gets her chance to introduce herself to you readers... I am so predictable.

* * *

><p>Just a moment later, the white-haired boy started to walk forward again, but turned around to Subaru after he had taken a few steps, as the younger boy wasn't following him.<p>

"You coming?" he asked, shortly before he noticed that Subaru had bent down and picked up something from the ground. Interested, he walked back to take a closer look at it.

Subaru inspected what he now held in his hand as well. It was one of the cards he had just helped the girl from before collect again, but unlike then he now recognized it to be a Battle Card.

"What's a little girl doing with Battle Cards?" Bly asked just the second he had reached him and saw it as well, surprising Subaru a bit with his sudden question.

"It's totally normal for kids to have them here," he then explained to the citizen of Mu. "They're collecting and trading them. And they can be used to attack minor viruses in cyber space by using them with the Star Carrier. I've been doing that too, before I became Rockman I mean."

"Is that so?" Bly asked back rhetorically, frowning. The thought of kids that little being allowed to use Battle Cards was something he had yet to fully accept, not to mention the use of those cards as something to collect and trade. After all, the humans living in Mu he knew had had to battle with them for their lives against the materialized 'viruses', although they hadn't been called that.

The white-haired any sighed as he closed his eyes and turned to the direction he had been going in before. "Well, it's a weak one, so she probably won't even miss it. Just keep it and get going."

_I don't know why exactly he's bothering waiting for me if he's so eager to get home,_ Subaru thought while letting the card slip into his pocket and following Bly. _We're not even going to the same place, after all. He could've just left._

But, noticing that his companion had started to walk forward again, he just shouted out loud, "At least wait for me!", as he ran the few steps to Bly's side before he fell back into a normal walking speed. Next to him, the white-haired eyed him a few seconds later, as if he waited for him to say something.  
>"What? Something in my face?" Subaru replied to the look after he found it a bit irritating to be stared at like that. Bly raised an eyebrow.<p>

"Didn't you want to call your mother? Hastily, even?"

It took a few moments for the brown-haired boy to realize what those words meant, but when he did think about what his companion meant, he jerked up and raised his Star Carrier in such a hurry; one could think he wanted to report he was being attacked by a huge group of armed criminals.

"Crap, crap, crap," he muttered while he once again dialed his mother's phone number, ignoring the fact he could just tell War-Rock to play Wizard once again and insert it for him in a matter of split seconds. Next to him, Bly couldn't resist but to smile about Subaru's reaction and way exaggerated movements a little.

_-.-.-.-_

_S__eems like your little human friend is dumber than I thought, not even noticing the special trait about that card, _she thought, sitting down on the roof of the car that just started to move forward again. She had considered to continue walking, but decided that it was too much of an effort. Hijacking a car was also not included in her possibilities, as she hadn't seen something like the moving vehicles until just recently. Only because of the men she had eavesdropped on a little while ago, she even knew the word 'car'.

So, as she hadn't seen another way to move without straining her unfamiliar body too much, she jumped on the roof of one that had stopped in front of a lamp with a red light. It had turned green shortly after she had jumped and the car had started moving again, so she figured the lights to be signals.

The few humans that noticed her and looked quite surprised to see her up there she ignored, as none of them actually did something that disturbed her. Also, even if they wanted to get her off the car, as long as the driver didn't notice his blind passenger, there was no reason the car would stop to give them a chance to.

It needed a bit of body control to be able to hold her position on the moving vehicle, but with the strength she possessed, it was something she was able to do with just the back of her mind actively thinking about it.

_But in one way it is a pity, though, _she had to admit after thinking about her former sentence for a few seconds. _Because so you were not interested enough to touch it... _

The blue-haired sighed a little, having to put one of her strands behind her ear in order to keep it from falling into her eyes all the time. With the next blow of the wind, her effort was put to waste though, so she just let it be.

_I would have simply loved to read your Denpa Wave, Ra… no, I will have to call you Bly now, right? A not too bad name, I will admit._

After a short period of time had passed, she moved her head up and gazed into the sky, looking for something that differentiated from the annoyingly yellow light that was shining in front of the vehicle. She was lucky – the stars were shining at their very best. They even stole a little smile from her. The night sky always calmed her down when she gazed upon it. Obviously though, she wasn't just enjoying the plain sight of it, her thoughts were wandering off to a whole different direction. The smile on her childish face changed into a malicious smirk.

_Let us resume our little participation from the ancient times, shall we?_ she asked of an imaginary foe in front of her, once again starting to try and restrain her hair from annoying her. In her head, her thoughts formed a detailed picture of the one she was speaking to, although it didn't last for long. After a few moments with that picture in mind had passed, it suddenly split in half, forming two completely different silhouettes out of which she discarded one that she didn't think of as needed. Her memory was without questioning very sharp, but it had been a long time since she had looked at the discarded silhouette with her own eyes, so she wasn't able to specifically picture it as good as the other one that she had just encountered minutes ago.

_It will be fun. I even equalized our positions the best I could. Except for one little detail, of course... _

The blue strands whirled around even more as the girl attempted to stand up, but stopped the moment one of her feet provided her the little bit of hold she needed. Her eyes looked around in the twilight red streets and made out the next turn without any people, which she waited for the car to arrive at.

_Ra, we both know that you never have, and you never will wield power that matches mine. And Bly will never be able to be as ruthless as me to reach his goals…_

With that thought in mind, Amun-Re jumped from the roof of the still fast moving car, landing on the sidewalk with both her feet without much effort. The smirk didn't leave her face, as she carried on walking again, thinking it to be a shame she couldn't have just told the man in the vehicle where to drop her.

But without a little bit of practice, she would never get used to this 'walking' again anytime soon, which could increase Ra's– she had to correct herself again, Bly's chance of winning against her a tiny bit. And even this tiny bit she wouldn't risk handing over to him.

"Well, it is time to get myself one of these cute little toys you have," Amun Re said out loud, not especially talking to anyone but heading straight into a direction she knew would lead her where she wanted to go. "And then I think I will go and have some fun elsewhere..."

The blue-haired girl hummed a little out of excitement, while she was rather jumping than walking at first, before she realized they were too unfamiliar movements for her to keep them up at this pace. With her feet and legs aching a bit, she fell back into simply taking one step after another, her face showing a smile that wasn't giving away the thoughts she had that moment at all.

_I wonder how much time I will have to play around until these bugs come out again to be killed…_

-.-.-.-

Subaru sighed while he put his Star Carrier in his pocket, ignoring War-Rock's protests entirely. He had just finished talking to his mother, who hadn't been very pleased about him not being able to reach and not calling her at the appointed time. He had tried apologizing to her multiple times, explaining there had been complications with the transmission and such, but she had still been angry about him. Not that he could blame her for it; he knew that he had had her worried. But he had done it in order to make sure the city wasn't attacked by an ancient monster.

Sometimes, keeping his second identity as Rockman secret from his mother was a lot more difficult than he would like it to be.

"Got lectured?" Bly asked him the second he had finished sighing. The brown-haired boy nodded.

"Yeah, but I guess I deserve it. I mean, I didn't even think of calling her until you reminded me, which would make me look kinda bad if someone knew…"

"We all have a lot on our minds, don't blame yourself," the older boy tried to make him feel a bit better and even slightly succeeded. A half-hearted smile found its way on Subaru's face while he kicked a random cigarette from the ground onto the street.

Both of them didn't speak up again for about a minute. Even though Bly's sentence had cheered him up a little in the matter of calling his mother, but it also had caused him to start thinking about the battle against Amun-Re-Mu again. He had successfully driven those thoughts to the back of his mind by talking about other things for the last few minutes, but now, with only a few more people wandering around in the streets they crossed, he didn't have any distraction.

"…What did you mean back then?" he then asked out of the blue, after his memory had jumped to a specific part of the battle. Next to him, Bly looked at him both surprised about the sudden question and confused by its content.

"Back then? You'll have to be more specific."

"I'm talking about your statement shortly before Amun-Re-Mu disappeared," Subaru explained, "the one about that strong wave of power not being an attack."

"Oh. That," the older boy simply replied, nodding a little to let his companion know that it was clear to him what that one was talking about now.

"I wanted to ask what you meant the moment I heard you say it, but I forgot about it because of what happened next," Subaru continued. Bly didn't seem like he was pleased with what he had to answer now the moment he started to speak up.

"It's just what I said. It wasn't an attack; it was just an enormous amount of power being used that materialized as that wind." The white-haired made a face before he carried on. "If you can call that 'just'. We don't know what it did, so it's somehow worse than if it had actually been an attack."

"Oh, I see."

They again fell silent after Subaru's brief response. Somehow, the brown-haired wished he hadn't even asked, although he knew that he couldn't just have ignored that statement forever if he had decided not to question Bly about it now. But just thinking about that wind almost blowing them off their feet as nothing but a huge wave of power instead of an attack discouraged him.

If Amun-Re-Mu had used offensive moves against them, would he still be here walking around in the streets?

"Well, I have to take a left here," Bly managed to pull him out of his thoughts and smiled a bit at the younger one, although it was clearly visible he wasn't in a mood to smile at all. "Call me tomorrow so we can meet up somewhere, alright?"

"Y-yeah," Subaru replied and raised one of his hands to about his chest. "See you tomorrow then."

"Don't let today's outcome get you down too much," Bly advised him before he also waved a short good-bye with one of his hands, then took a turn and walked away. Subaru looked after him for a few seconds, before he continued to walk into the direction they had been going in until now. Now, having nobody to distract him, he noticed that in his pocket, War-Rock was struggling inside the Star Carrier the best he could. Quickly, he got the device out.

"I'm sorry, War-Rock," he apologized quickly as the AM Life-Form started to insult him for just putting him away like he did.


End file.
